Chapter 3 Marriage is the Punishment

If someone could freeze the ground, time or human, no one would do it better than the vampire himself, Alaric Emrick. He’s a man feared among men. He’s a tall man with raven wavy hair and famous blood-red eyes. Being in his presence almost always means death. His voice alone which could cut thin ice means you’re at the gate of the inferno. His name was simply synonymous with a devil incarnate.

Who else wouldn’t shrink before him? Alaric Acheron Lorcan Emrick is the current head of the oldest purest bloodline of vampires in Europe. He is currently the reigning youngest king of the vampire royals [in a millennium] at age twenty-four.  

As he happened to be standing just a few feet away from Mary, who already stood frozen to the ground, stonecold like a statue upon hearing his name, Alaric uncaringly walked brushing past her while two other men remained in their post standing behind Mary. He quietly walked towards the corpse and knelt to the ground feeling for his cousin’s pulses, doing the same thing that Adrienne already did earlier. His blood-red eyes darkened making it almost black after listening to his cousin’s no longer beating heart. 

“So young, Athan.” He muttered softly to himself.

He turned his head and looked sharply and angrily at Adrienne who was kneeling quietly at the other side of the corpse.

She turned pale from his blood-red razor-sharp eye, praying that she wouldn’t be smashed to pieces by the hidden wrath that now has slowly surfaced from the deadly vampire. Adrienne bated her breath while she waited for his scathing remark.

“Did you do this?” he asked masking his anger. His voice was thin as ice.

Adrienne felt cold sweat at the back of her neck at his question. She almost felt guilty as if she did it. She couldn’t muster to answer with a ‘no’ before him so she only shook her head.

“Then, who did this?” asked Alaric softly. He returned his gaze at his cousin’s chest when he opened his mouth again. His voice was a reign of ice-controlled temper. “Was it you girl who stands in quivering silence behind me?”

Mary moved a foot behind her.

“Answer me!” He suddenly roared.

Mary then dropped to the ground, crouching low before Alaric’s back.

“P-Please don’t k-kill m-me, S-Sir. P-Please s-spare my life. I-I didn’t m-mean t-to k-kill him. I-it w-was a-a-an a-accident, y-your h-highness,” she said stuttering in fear.

He turned round to see her bowed low on the ground. 

“What do you mean accident?” asked Alaric stiffly. “Enlighten me, witch.”

“I-I’m M-Mary Crossborough, y-your m-majesty. I’m a witch of this village. I-I was practicing my wind defense spell this morning inside t-this f-forest. W-When I-I c-casted it, I t-then heard s-someone f-falling on the ground n-not so far away. I-I ran to find who it was and then I saw i-it w-was…a-a…d-dham-p-pir. B-but I-I d-didn’t know h-he w-was y-your c-cousin, your majesty.”

She answered in a dissipated voice. Mary was already crouched so low she could turn to a rock statue any moment then.

“And do you know what’s the punishment of killing a vampire especially from the royal line even when he or she is a dhampir?” asked Alaric tersely.

She remained silent.

“Did you check your surrounding before practicing your spells, Mary?” he asked coldly.

No answer came up.

“You know that the basic requirement of a witch when they practice spell was to ensure that there wouldn’t be anyone around to prevent oneself from casting injury to a non-witch, wasn’t that right?”

The air around dropped a few temperatures colder. Adrienne swore it must be because of Alaric Emrick. Of what he must be capable of doing.

“Stand up, Mary.” He ordered not looking at her.

Mary remained crouched very low on the ground.

“I said, stand up, Mary.” He said quietly. “If you don’t stand up from the ground, I will kill you immediately. Do you understand?”

He said with a grave threat.

Mary scrambled to stand up and kept her gaze on the ground.

“Look at me, Mary.”

Mary moved her head like a robot to look at Alaric Emrick. Her beautiful face was already pale as a ghost.

“Tell me, can you pay for my cousin’s life? Do you know how to pay for a dhampir’s life?” he asked in a cold clear voice.

Only tears flowed from Mary’s face as she stood quivering with fear before him.

“Do you have any idea of the consequence of your action to the vampire and witch community, Mary?” asked Alaric, disdain traced upon his voice.

He rose from his knelt position in front of his cousin’s corpse. He walked towards Mary and tugged her clothes by the chest lifting her to level at his face and she shrank limped with fear like a ragdoll.

“I can easily kill you, Mary. With my simple index finger pointing at your head. To pay for Athan’s life.” He whispered with a very deadly tone. “Would you like to join him now?”

He asked his face full of wrath and disgust towards the witch that killed his cousin.

Mary’s eyes were already shut from fear but her quivering lips tried and mustered the courage to say, “P-Please spare my life, L-Lord Emrick…”

He released Mary’s clothes and she dropped to the ground. Adrienne rushed to her side and helped her to stand back on her feet staggering in the process.

“Please spare Mary’s life, your majesty,” Adrienne pleaded mustering her courage.

“She’s just sixteen. She wouldn’t be a complete witch yet until eighteen.”

She looked at Alaric Acheron’s blood-red eyes with her brown eyes, determined and set to fight for Mary’s life.

“I’ll do anything you ask, Lord Emrick. Just spare her life, please.”

“Really…? You would do anything for this pesky little wench of an imbecile witch?”

He sneered at her.

Adrienne kept her gaze leveled to his stare while holding her fists in tight clench as she held into Mary’s body. She will fight for Mary’s life if she must.

“Yes.” She said with recrimination. “I’ll do anything to save Mary. Just don’t kill her, please, Sir Emrick. She doesn’t deserve to die.”

“And did my cousin deserve to die?” he asked icily.

“It was an accident, Lord Emrick.  She didn’t mean to kill her with her magic.” She replied.

“How would you call it an accident? Did you see her when she cast her spell?” he asked, his tone full of doubt.

Adrienne was stunned speechless. 

As if reading her mind, he continued to speak, “So, you weren’t there when the incident happened. And yet, right here, still you stand before her as a witness that she didn’t kill my cousin, at all.”

Alaric released a cold icy laugh.

“How remarkable, witch! Are you prepared to die yourself?”

He looked savagely at her.

“Are you two prepared to die?” He snarled at her face.

Adrienne looked down the ground.

Alaric Emrick glanced at her bowed head disdainfully.

“For centuries, we vampires have tolerated your meager existence. Dancing to your folly. Heeding to your pleas. Listening to your requests.”

“And this is how you repay us?” he asked, his voice thin as ice. “By killing my blood and line that has never done you any harm? Is this how you pay, witches?”

He roared at them.

Adrienne felt Mary going limp on her arms and dropping to the ground.

“Lost consciousness, did she?” asked Alaric merely giving Mary a hateful glance.

“Yes, she did, your majesty,” Adrienne answered, hiding the scorn of her voice.

“Do you know how to heal her?” he asked with mild interest.

“We witches know our heal of magic, your majesty.”

Adrienne said with a trace of ice in her voice.

As Adrienne Mallory laid Mary on the ground checking her pulses first, then loosening the ribbon around her neck and lifting Mary’s feet to her lap while she removed her shoes and socks while massaging the sole of her feet in the process, Alaric simply observed her and spoke without wonder.

“You’re the elusive red witch of Ardelean Village. The infallible firehead who deeply scorns the vampires of Emrick City. Adrienne Mallory.” 

He said with ice-cold clearness.

Adrienne simply ignored Alaric pretending he wasn’t there while she continued to massage the plantar plexuses of Mary, warming her cold feet and delivering her magic into her blood system to restore the normal flow of her blood circulation. Mary wouldn’t be awake for a while yet. She gave Mary slight magic to keep her asleep until she recovered from the shock of today. She was fuming inside.

“Why so quiet, Adrienne Mallory? Don’t have anything else more to say?” he asked as he watched her massaging the feet of her friend. “Well, I can you help, witch. I can help you see your mother that you’ve never seen since you were a child.”

Adrienne looked up at him.

“Got your interest now, eh?” he said, smirking.

She only kept mum at him.

“I know you wrote to the family demanding to investigate the disappearance of your mother several years ago. I know you hate the Emrick family for killing your father. And I know you wish to take your vengeance against us.”

Adrienne raised her eyes and glared at him with full venom.

“Perhaps this incidence is even but a sad little excuse to hide the fact that you killed my cousin, Adrienne Mallory.”

Adrienne stopped massaging Mary’s foot and gripped it with more strength than possible to control herself from punching Alaric Emrick in the face. 

“Shut up, Alaric Emrick. Stop making a false accusation.”

“Why wouldn’t I? You were kneeling before my cousin when I found you two here. Who would stand witness to that? There’s only you and Mary inside this forest. How do you defend yourself?” he blundered.

“I didn’t kill him. I have no motive to kill him anyway.”

She said with vindication.

“Didn’t you?” he asked silkily.

He called the two guards that were as quiet behind them.

“Emrin! Eslov! Gather Athan’s body. We’re leaving.” 

He walked to where Adrienne knelt before Mary’s body. Without saying a word, he lifted the woman’s body from the ground and carried her in his arms.

“What are you doing?” she asked surprised by his action. She rose from the ground.

“I’m carrying her back to your house. I know you live with her.” 

Alaric said without looking at her. He started to walk back. She followed him without a word. He stopped and turned back at her and caught her eyes.

“By the way, Adrienne Mallory, you’re coming back with us to the castle. I decided to spare you and your friend’s life. In exchange, you will be my wife.”

He said with finality. He turned his back leaving Adrienne rooted to her spot.